This invention relates to a method of launching and recovering fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from unmanned surface vehicles (USVs). More particularly, this invention integrates proven aerodynamic designs and controllable tether mechanisms on unmanned platforms to launch and recover fixed wing aerial craft.
Currently, fixed wing UAVs are difficult to launch and recover from ships at sea. The most prominent past example was a system of the 1980s which the U.S. Navy designated Pioneer. The Pioneer UAV was launched from U.S. battleships with what was called rocket assisted take off (RATO) and recovered in a net mounted on the side of the ship. All the structure associated with RATO made it cumbersome, and the recovery via the net worked only for pusher-propeller UAVs. Consequently, even if fixed-wing UAVs could be launched from ships at sea, recovery would not be available for most types of fixed wing UAVs.
These limitations have resulted in predominant reliance on rotorcraft UAVs for maritime operations. However, this reliance on rotorcraft UAVs significantly limits operational capabilities and utility. In other words, the extended capabilities of many fixed wing UAVs currently can't be exploited since many existing UAV designs can't be dependably recovered at sea without requiring special configurations such as pusher propellers, or other extensive modifications.
Thus, a need has been recognized in the state of the art for an improved system and method for launching and recovering fixed wing UAVs using USVs to allow more widespread use of contempory UAV designs.